1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a novel, light weight, body joint guard suitable for wear by a participant in sports events and the like.
The present invention relates more specifically to a protection for use over an articulation or joint such as a knee or elbow.
In various sports such as hockey, basketball, etc. there has been a need for a practical, light weight, and effective protective structure for various joints, particularly, knee joints, where hard contact between solid objects such as a wall; floor; etc. or other participants is involved. During such sports contests, the knee joint linking the femur and the tibial bones is highly vulnerable to injury or damage or, if initially hurt, to reinjury. Commonly, injuries occur via severe impact forces directly upon the kneecap or applied to either side of the knee which can result in an over-extension of the joint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Articulations of the body are sensitive and easily injured. As a result, there have been many attempts to design protective gear for these areas.
Much of the prior art is concerned with protection against large forces being slowly applied to a joint but not sudden impacts upon said joint. Knee and elbow rests for working in fields, or on any hard surfaces, are examples of these devices which are exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,293,240; 1,753,055; 1,796,234 and 2,456,472. Because of the normally slow application of pressure upon a given joint associated with, e.g., the kneeling-type end uses of these protectors, these guards are not overly concerned with the distribution of forces about the joint, but rather allow pressure to be placed directly upon said joint albeit most do try to realize a uniform distribution of pressure, i.e., they all possess a pad of some sort in direct contact with the joint per se.
More specific to the problem obviated by the instant invention, i.e., injury caused by severe impact upn a joint are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,772,922; 3,259,910 and 3,712,299 which disclose guards designed specifically for protection during sporting events, i.e., protection against sudden impact.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,772,922 of Volz relates to a limb guard device useful for protecting parts of the body such as thighs, from bruises resulting from the effect of a blow or sudden pressure during athletic sports participation. The disclosure describes a padded, rigid frame supported by the body area surrounding the limb region it is desired to protect. Arched over this rigid frame and secured thereto at its opposite edges is the guard or shield proper. A suitable harness holds the protection in place. It is obvious that the Volz device is designed for use over unarticulated portions of the body for the rigid subframe would prevent the user from full use of a joint. In addition to the retardation of flexibility of the joint, any effort to counteract the reinforcement of the frame by the wearer would assuredly result in chafing and bruising of the body areas within the frame and strap contact.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,910 relates to a rather sophisticated and bulky protection gear for covering joints. The primary front protection resides in a longitudinally curved plastic plate with a generally "U"-shaped cross-section in the latitudinal direction sandwiched between two layers of foam plastic, foam rubber, or the like padding material. The essence of the disclosure lies in the lateral part of the protector, i.e., the parts along either side of the joint; for each lateral part is provided with a deep "V"-shaped notch in the central part thereof defined by curved converging edges. In this manner, when the protector is bent, the edges simply move toward and over one another.
A layer of foam-like material is in the immediate contact with the limbs above and below the joint and a central circular hole is povided for receiving the joint edge proper which serves to maintain the protector in position. In addition, however, another piece of padding is inserted in the hole between the joint and the primary front protector for further padding the elbow edge.
Thus, a device is disclosed with multiple moving as well as stationary parts resulting in a relatively expensive and cumbersome guard. Furthermore, through a sequence of flexible and rigid layers, it is contemplated that padding will be brought into direct contact with the joint proper.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,299 discloses a protective knee guard adapted to be secured to the tibial and femur portions of a knee joint. The device has a pair of spaced leg straps which fasten as described above and which are coupled to elongated spring steel members provided on each side of the joint. The elongated members are maintained in a bowed condition by flexible chain members. A series of guards coupled to the spring steel members extends forwardly of the joints for protection.
Although the guard/shields do not contact the joint directly, one can readily see that when the joint is in a flexed position, it would be relatively easy for a pointed object such as the toe of a boot or shoe to penetrate between the shields and impact the joint proper. The inventor obviously recognized this problem for he suggests covering the outside of the curved outer guards "at least partially by an elastic fabric." Such a covering would not suffice to stop a pointed object from impacting upon the joint. Furthermore, the structure offers very little side protection and it is apparent that the rigid guard members, bowed side members, side chains and backbrace rod are all capable in themselves of rendering an injury to the joint area.